


Ever Fallen In Love With Someone You Shouldn't've

by barbex



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, M/M, Magic, Magical Realism, magicpunk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-07
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-02-27 16:22:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18742666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barbex/pseuds/barbex
Summary: Magic is a tool. Magic is a tool for convenience, for glamour, for power. Says the Danarius Corporation.Magic is a curse, a sickness, a test from the Maker. Says the Chantry.Two opposing forces who fight over control of magic and mages.Somewhere in Kirkwall punk Garrett Hawke and goth Fenris meet at a concert. It's a small moment and it will change the world.-------------Modern AU, magicpunk (think cyberpunk but with magic).I do not give permission for this work to be read through for-profit-apps or to be posted on another site. If you're reading this work through an app you had to pay for, you're being scammed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just had to write something for this image.

This fic was inspired by this incredible piece of art by xiz0r: <https://xiz0r.tumblr.com/post/184678155754/goth-fenris-and-punk-hawke-hooking-up-is-totally>

* * *

Theme song:

The Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)  
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51OB2YoC4sg>

 

Ever fallen in love?  
In love with someone  
You shouldn't've fallen in love with

* * *

 

The music tonight is different. The singer is definitely punk but the rest of the band looks way more goth than what usually rocks this stage. The audience also leans more towards goth tonight, which isn't a bad thing per se. There's lots of new faces in the club tonight.

Garrett waves at the barkeep for a beer, he towers over the crowd tonight and his mohawk almost scratches the ceiling. Most of the goth are elves, lithe and slender and about a head smaller than him. He lets his gaze pass over the crowd like a lighthouse, which amuses him to no end. The barkeep holds up his beer and he pushes his way towards the bar until he can grab the bottle over the head of some very cute goth elves.

"Serahs, my apologies," he says, winking at the black lined eyes that turn to him. He gets his bottle and holds it above his head as he walks along the edge of the mosh pit. On the far side of the hall, punks and goth have come together for a magic light show, sending electrical sparks between them. He watches them, cooling his beer down with an ice spell as he sways to the music.

Later, he cannot explain what exactly happened but something, some prickle at his neck, makes him turn his head. Leaning at the wall, an elf watches him. Slim legs in tight leather, one foot against the wall, a steel belt buckle that looks way too big for his slender hips, black shirt stretched tight over his chest with cut-outs and a black choker across his neck. And all over, wherever his skin is visible, white swirling lines drawn over his skin that gleam in the strobe light. Hawke takes all that in and then forgets it because their eyes meet and time stops.

Garrett watches himself with silent fascination as he moves through the crowd, an errant lighting bolt hitting him as he walks through the combined goth/punk magic light show but he doesn't even twitch. He comes back to his mind when he stands in front of the elf, his mouth open to speak and nothing comes out.

"Yes?" the elf asks, looking at him critically.

"Hi," Garrett says, immediately wishing for someone to smite him with a templar spell. He's usually so good at this. "Hi, I'm Garrett."

The elf looks up to him, guarded but not disgusted, if Garrett interprets his body language correctly. "Fenris," he says.

Garrett tears his eyes away from the most amazing green eyes he has ever seen and takes in the rest of his face. The white lines stop at his chin but three white dots glow on his forehead, half hidden by his hair. His head is half shaven, the rest pulled into a ponytail. There is a ring in his eyebrow and his lower lip and several in his long, pointy ears.

"I like your mohawk," Fenris says somewhere in some other plane of existence.

Garrett's gaze falls to Fenris' lips and his breath gets stuck in his throat. "Thanks," he croaks. "I... you... can I kiss you?"

Those green eyes look up to him, burning with untamed fire. "Yes."

He leans forward, waiting, offering rather than taking, and after an eternity, Fenris moves. Their lips meet, softly at first but then with a hunger that overwhelms them. They press against each other, Garrett wrapping his arms around the slender elf, cradling his neck as he explores his mouth with his tongue.

Fenris moans into his mouth, his hips pressing against him. Garrett opens his eyes and his breath gets stuck in his throat. The white lines on Fenris' body shine in blinding white. Not just reflecting the strobe light but glowing on their own.

Fenris' eyes fly open. "You're a mage." He pushes Garrett away with a snarl. "A fucking mage."

Hawke stumbles back. "Shit, fuck, I'm sorry." He scratches his nails over the shaved part of his head, trying to gather some remnant of self control. "Is that a problem? I'm sorry, I should have said something, I..." He stares at Fenris, something drawing into a tight ball of pain in his gut. "I won't..."

The white lines stop glowing and Fenris frowns at him. With powerful grace, he takes a step towards Hawke and pulls him back to him, his hand grabbing the long hair at Garrett's neck, pulling him down. He kisses him again, sucking in his lower lips, his piercing pressing into Garrett's lip, and again, the white lines on his body begin to glow. Fenris stops, drawing his lips away but keeps his forehead against Garrett's, breathing slowly against his lips.

"Why do you have to be a fucking mage?" Fenris growls.

"I'm sorry," Garrett says, not daring to move. If this is all he can get, if he can just stay here, towering over Fenris, breathing him in, then that's all he needs. "I can't help it, I'm a mage, was born like that. But I swear I'm not some elf collecting asshole mage, I'm really not, you can ask anybody," he babbles, still not moving. "Ask around, Garrett Hawke, not an elf collecting asshole mage, they'll tell you. I hope so at least, I mean..." He opens his eyes and sees with relief a hint of a grin on Fenris' face.

Fenris is quiet for a while, the grin making room for a thoughtful expression. "I have to think about this. Can you be here again tomorrow, same time, same place?"

"Yes, I will," Garrett answers way too quickly to be cool. He notices how he crowds Fenris and takes a slow step back. "I really would love to see you again, I'll buy you a beer. Just to talk, nothing more."

Fenris snorts, pointedly staring at the bulge in Garrett's leather pants. "Yeah, right."

"Hey, that's hardly fair," Garrett says, turning to the side to hide his obvious arousal.

Fenris steps up to him pulling his head down to speak into his ear. "Tomorrow, right here at eleven. I won't wait."

"I'll be here," Garrett says and watches the elf walk away. With a rush, the noise of the club, the music, the singing, the yelling, all of it returns to his senses at once and he braces himself against the wall to stop himself from stumbling.

"What the hell just happened?" he says to himself. "Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck."

* * *

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

 

Garrett runs. His sides hurt and his knees complain bitterly about this unusual exercise. He's in good shape, he does weights and all but nobody would call him a long distance runner. But his replacement at his security job came in too late, traffic is a standing only party and he has to avoid the magic track. So, running it is.

He reaches the Deep Void out of breath and nods at Donnic at the door, one of the guardsmen, who works security as a side job. Donnic lets him sprint through the door without stopping him for the scan. Garrett helps out with security sometimes, they know him here.

Inside, music blasts from the speakers and a few people are already dancing. The real rush comes after midnight and nobody comes in his way as Garrett runs over to the other side of the club. He stops at the plastered wall and leans against it to catch his breath. Twisting his arm, he checks the time.

"Shit, fucking void." The time crystal under his skin glows in blue, showing the time as 11:10. Garrett looks around. Two girls in spiked heels teeter past him towards the toilets but nobody else is here. He turns to the wall and hits it with his fist. "Fuck! Fuuuuuuck!" He's too late.

A familiar voice scolds him from behind. "Baby, what has you hitting my wall?" Isabela, wearing a blue and read catsuit and balancing a tray with empty glasses in her hand, cocks her hip and gives him a disapproving stare. "With your curses, that paint is going to peel off."

Garrett wipes his hand over his head, his fingers getting tangled up in his mohawk, now sadly leaning to one side after all his running and sweating. "Have you seen an elf here, dark hair with blue streaks and white lines all over his body? Has he been here today?"

Isabela shakes her head. "Little goth elf? Naw, I don't think I've seen him today but I've been in the back a lot."

"Fucking void!" Garrett balls his fists until his fingernails dig painfully into his skin.

Isabela puts down the tray and lays her hand on his shoulder. "Baby, what's going on? You look like you want to punch the Fade."

Garrett pulls on his left-leaning mohawk, twirling the strands with his fingers. "I met him here, yesterday. He said to meet him here at eleven and I came as fast as I could but— "

"You didn't take the magic track though, right?"

"No, of course not."

Isabela blows out a breath. "Hawke would have killed you if you did and if not her, Anders would."

"I know," Garrett says, shaking her hand off his shoulder. "I'm not _that_ dumb."

"I know you're not, baby, but you look kind of desperate right now." Isabela brushes his hands away from his hair, spits in her hands and works on setting his mohawk back upright.

Garrett tries to escape but she grabs into his hair and keeps him still like that. "Gross, Isabela," he growls at her.

"My spit isn't gross, you big baby." She stands on her tiptoes to pull the strands up. "As if you don't already have soap and shit in your hair. There, much better."

"What's the point anyway?" Garrett sighs and leans back against the wall, mirrorring the pose Fenris had yesterday.

"Andraste's tits, you got it bad." Isabela shakes her head and picks up the tray again. "Go check with Donnic, maybe he wasn't here yet."

"Shit, yes." He storms back to the door, swerving to the right to avoid running into a fellow punk moshing on his own, almost gets hit by someone's flailing arm and then runs full speed into an elf.

"Sorry!" he calls out, ready to storm on, when he sees green eyes looking at him. "Fenris? Oh void, I almost ran you over, I was just... the door... I thought..." He stops babbling and looks at him. The white dots and lines are almost invisible on his face because he's so ashen and his eyes are red-rimmed and he seems to have trouble to focus. "Fuck, are you alright?"

"Garrett," Fenris says. He looks up to Garrett and swallows. "So thirsty." His eyes roll back into his head and he drops.

"Shit!" Garrett manages to grab Fenris' shoulders before his head hits the floor and he hauls him back up. His head lolls to the side, his slim body like a wet towel in his arms. "Shit, what's wrong? Fenris, can you hear me?"

He bundles him up in his arms and carries him to the back. "Isabela, help!"

"What?" Isabela takes one look at him and frowns. "What happened, did he take anything?"

"I don't know, get Anders, I'll take him upstairs."

"Fuck, he better not puke on my couch." She presses her key into his hand that holds Fenris' legs and ushers him out the back. As she closes the door behind him, she holds the comm-crystal in her palm to her ear. "Anders, you gotta come, could be substance abuse, hurry."

Garrett doesn't hear the rest of the conversation, the door to the staircase falls close and only a miserably dim light at the top of the stairs leads him to Isabela's apartment. He fumbles with the key, finally gets the door open and rushes over to the couch to lay down the lifeless body of Fenris.

"Fenris, Fenris, can you hear me?" He tries to find a pulse at his neck but he obviously didn't pay enough attention during the First Aid course that Marian made him take. He holds his ear to Fenris' nose, trying to hear if he still breathes. "Fenris, please, don't be dead," he whispers.

There is a huff of breath against his cheek and Garrett takes Fenris' head in his hands and watches his lips moving. "What? What is it?"

It's only a whisper and Garrett has to hold his ear to Fenris' lips to understand him at all but he hears him say, "Thirsty."

"I get you some water," Garrett says and rushes towards the kitchenette, bumping his shin on the sharp edge of the glass coffee table. "Shit, fuck!"

Hurried steps come up the stairs, he left the door open and Anders runs right in. "Where?"

"Couch." Garrett fills a glass with water and comes back to the couch, avoiding the coffee table this time. Anders is already kneeling next to Fenris, shoving his shirt up and frowns when he sees the white lines on his skin. "Do you know him?"

"No, met him yesterday for the first time." Garrett holds out the glass of water. "He said he's thirsty."

"That could be a reaction to poison, hold that for a moment." Anders puts the buds of his stethoscope in his ears and lets the glowing sensor glide over Fenris' chest. The frown on his forehead gets deeper the longer he listens to the sensor feedback. He takes the buds out and looks at Garrett. "Definitely poison."

The pit in Garrett's stomach threatens to swallow him whole. "Is it bad? Will he be alright?"

"It's bad."

Garrett sets the glass on the table with a bang, spilling half of the water. "Then do something!"

"I'm trying." Anders' hands glow in yellow as he channels his healing into Fenris' stomach. "It's already in his blood, only bloodmagic can get it out now."

"What are you waiting for?" Garrett jumps up, towering over Anders.

"I can't do bloodmagic, I'm on probation, you see this?" He holds up his hand with the blue glowing wristband. "We'll have the templars here in minutes."

Garrett wants to scream. "You can't just let him die!"

"I'm doing what I can!"

"I can do it," a tired voice comes from one of the bedrooms. Merrill tiptoes over to the couch on naked feet and kneels down.

Anders makes room for her but still holds his hands over Fenris' stomach. "You're not a healer," Anders says with only a hint of protest in his voice.

"Separate poison from blood, it's like cleaning colors, I can do that," Merrill says and takes a knife from her hip. So quickly that they almost don't see it, she makes a cut in Fenris' arm and holds her fingertip to the blood welling up. Fenris groans but doesn't move.

"I need something to put the poison in," Merrill says, drawing patterns in the air with her free hand.

Garrett gulps down the remaining water in the glass and hands it to her. "Please hurry."

Merrill just nods and closes her eyes. Her body begins to glow in faint red light and the blood welling up under her finger changes color. She holds the glass under the cut and slowly, drop by drop, a darkgreen liquid drips into the glass. It takes a long time and Garrett doesn't dare to breathe.

Anders looks at him, his healing hand still hovering over Fenris' stomach. Slowly, the color returns to the elf's skin and his chest moves with deep breaths. "Go to his head," Anders says. "Talk to him."

Garrett slinks around the back of the couch and lowers himself down on his protesting knees next to Fenris' head. "Hey, Fenris, do you hear me? It's Garrett, I was almost on time today to meet you."

Merrill snickers. "That's a miracle worthy of the creators themselves."

"Very funny." Garrett returns his attention to Fenris and wipes the sweat from his forehead. "Hey, you're going to be alright. I still owe you a beer." He strokes over the black hair with the blue highlights. From this close, he can see that the roots of his hair grow back white. The elf seems to have naturally white hair.

Fenris takes a deep breath and coughs, startling Garrett. "Hey, Fenris, it's alright, you gonna be fine." He strokes over his hair again and the white dots on Fenris' forehead begin to glow.

Fenris' eyes fly open. "Mage," he says, wrinkling his nose.

"Yep," Garrett says and grabs Fenris' arm so that he doesn't pull it away from Merrill. "Mag _es_ , actually, three of them right now."

"Four, to be precise," Marian Hawke says from the door. She saunters in, closely followed by Isabela and Carver, who closes the door behind him.

Fenris struggles against the hold that Garrett has on his arm.

"Just a little bit longer," Merrill says and smiles at him.

Fenris throws his head back with a frustrated groan. "All of you are mages?"

Carver comes up to the couch and waves. "I'm not a mage."

"No, you're a templar, that's _so_ much better," Anders says with a bite in his voice.

"Behave, Anders," Isabela scolds before Carver can react. "I'm no mage either." She lets her hand glide over her hips in the skintight catsuit. "This sexyness is all homegrown and natural."

Fenris makes a deep growl in his chest that does illegal things to Garrett's insides.

"All done," Merrill calls out with a bright smile, holding up the glass with the poison. It moves slowly, like oil. She gets up and holds the glass with her fingertips, carrying it over to the kitchenette. A bright flash later and with the sound of nails on chalkboard, the oily liquid turns white and Merrill drains the glass into the sink.

"Oh, Kitten," Isabela cries out, "I wanted to keep that for a rainy day."

"You can't keep poison in the kitchen," Merrill says, "someone could get sick."

"Of course, Kitten, that was the point." Isabela shrugs and drapes her arms around Marian. "Where have _you_ been, babe?"

Hawke grins and presses a kiss on Isabela's neck. "Oh baby, you won't believe it."

"Stop," Anders interrupts. He has closed the cut on Fenris' arm and stands up. "Before we start with that, can we have a word, all of us?"

He stands up, shaking out his hand and jerks his head at Garrett to make him follow him into Merrill's room.

"I'll be right back," Garrett says and strokes once more over Fenris' head. The elf closes his eyes but hums affirmative.

Merrill turns on rows and rows of fairy lights and flops down on the bed, visibly tired after doing such precise bloodmagic. Isabela sits down next to her and strokes over Merrill's head. "What is it now?"

"That elf," Anders begins and lowers his voice, "I know him, I've seen him at the Danarius Corporation."

"So what," Garrett says, "half of the Free Marches work at Danarius'."

Anders shakes his head. "No, I saw him there, last year, he had access to the lower levels. That means he works in the laboratories, he might be part of the magic administration and he just met four new mages and one did bloodmagic on him, how long do you think it will take until Danarius Corp sends some Special Agents over?"

"You don't know that," Marian says. "What were you doing there anyway?"

Anders shrugs. "They had an open invitation for Wardens and the Taint infection. And I thought it would be an opportunity to get a look into the belly of the beast, you know?"

Marian crosses her arms in front of her chest. "I don't believe you. You wanted to see if they would take you on, as an agent."

"I was just checking them out." Anders holds up his hands defensively. "At least they don't try to burn out magic via lobotomy."

"No, they just control all magic tech and keep mages as slaves." Garrett glares at him.

"We didn't know that back then," Anders says. "I was just checking things out, sue me for hoping we wouldn't have to fight on two fronts for once."

"So," Garrett says and takes a step closer to Anders. "You saw Fenris there, a year ago. That doesn't mean shit."

"What if it does?" Anders yells. "What if he's a high employee? He saw us all now."

"I'm not an employee," Fenris says from the door. His voice is hoarse and he leans against the doorframe. Garrett rushes over to him and pulls him close to him to hold him up. Fenris stiffens for a moment and then relaxes into Garrett's side.

"But you had an access card," Anders says.

"But I'm not an employee," Fenris says and his white lines light up. "I'm a product."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will not be up this fast, so don't get used to it :D


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

 

Garrett leads Fenris to the bed to have him sit down. Merrill curls up sideways on her pillows and smiles at Fenris, unperturbed by his suspicious scowl. Her eyes travel over the white lines on Fenris' body and if she weren't so tired from the cleansing procedure, she probably would already be all over Fenris to study the lines.

Fenris collapses onto the bed with a sigh and Garrett stands close by in case the slim elf tips over. That's the only reason, of course. Just like Carver hovers near Merrill just because he happens to be standing there and not to stand like a shield between his crush and the sexy new elf.

"How can you be a product?" Anders asks, draping his long and lanky body over one of Merrill's chairs.

"Not marketable so far," Fenris says quietly, "but I'm one of many experiments with lyrium, magic and infusing magic into non-mages."

"Traceable of course," Marian says matter of factly. Where Anders is the emotional center of their little rebel group, burning with passion for freedom and justice, Marian is rational to the point of being heartless.

She looks at Fenris clinically, not seeing the beauty of the swirling white lines but only the technical applications. "Lyrium fused to the skin, giving the wearer mage-like abilities, at the same time probably controlled externally and of course traceable." She raises her hand quickly, a wave of light shooting over Fenris so fast that he can't even flinch before it is over. "Yes, he's like an antenna."

The white lines on Fenris' body light up in blinding lyrium-white and he takes a step towards Marian. But then he disappears, his form blinking out of existence like an afterimage where he just stood and reappearing in front of Marian, his hand at her throat. "Do not use magic on me without asking," he snarls.

Garrett is once again endlessly impressed by what a calm bitch his sister is because she doesn't even blink, just stares at Fenris with cold eyes. "Understood," she says.

How two emotional fireballs like Anders and Isabela can stand being with the cone of cold that is Marian, Garrett will never understand.

"Fade phasing," Marian says as Fenris lets go of her throat. "That must be strange for a non-mage, taxing too."

As if on cue, Fenris sways as he steps back and Garrett hurries to pull him towards his own chest before he loses his balance. Fenris stiffens again at being held like that but slowly relaxes.

Anders gets up and glances out of the window through the blinds, as if he's in an old spy movie. "If his markings act like an antenna, he must stand out like beacon and we should move."

Merrill, who looks like she's sleeping but apparently doesn't, says without opening her eyes, "The enchantments should shield us. And Carver is here." She feels blindly for Carver's hand and pulls him down on the bed to lay her head in his lap. Carver turns bright red and then carefully brushes her hair.

Isabela fiddles with the crystal interface on her arm and shakes her head. "Yeah, the enchantments are definitely working, I can't even get on the Link here."

"What does the templar have to do with that?" Anders asks, still peering out into the street. "If anything, him being here is even worse, they can trace him too, he might just as well taken the magic track right into our living room."

"I took the track to the university and then walked from there, alright?" Carver growls, and if Merrill didn't have her head in his lap, he probably would have jumped up to punch Anders in the face.

"The enchantments feed off his templar magic, they get stronger," Merrill says.

There is a beat of absolute silence as the mages stare at Merrill.

"What?" Isabela asks, looking from one to the other. "What did she say?"

"Templars don't have magic," Marian states.

"Well," Carver says quietly, "It may not quite be so simple."

Merrill finally opens her eyes and sits up, leaning against Carver and his heavy leather jacket. "Templars have spells and powers and enhance them with lyrium, just like mages enhance their magic with lyrium. All my enchantments react the same way to him and to me. Carver can even do some of my spells if he takes one of my potions. It's magic, they just want to call it differently."

"I did a fireball, a small one," Carver says with a deep blush.

"No way!" Anders calls out.

Before he can say anything more, Marian is up and in Carver's face like a demon. "You took a mage potion? That could have killed you." She turns her terrifying gaze at Merrill, electricity sparking up her arms. "And you gave it to him?"

Garrett leads Fenris to the vacated chair to sit him down and pushes his bulk between the cold fury of Marian and the careful friendliness of Merrill. He puts his hands on Marian's shoulders. "Now, how about we listen to the whole story before we start electrocuting our friends."

Marian narrows her eyes and takes a breath. "Fine." She steps back towards the window and Anders wraps his arms around her. She closes her eyes for a moment, his embrace calming her and bringing a softness to her face that one doesn't see often.

"I've been working on this for a while," Merrill says. "Initially it was because of the Taint infection, to heal Anders. He gave me some of his blood for that. It led me to looking closer at potions and one day Carver had one of his potions there and I did some tests."

A cough comes from Fenris. "You're a bloodmage."

"Not the ritual sacrifice kind," Merrill says.

Anders turns to Fenris. "Magic is magic. It all depends on how it is used."

"Can we get back to this templar mage thing?" Garrett looks at his little brother. "Last I heard, templars get addicted to lyrium and die from mage potions and since this little ass is still here with us, I would really like to know more about it."

"They're not addicted to the lyrium," Merrill says. "It's something else in the potion."

"I need a drink," Isabela says and leaves the room.

"What are you talking about?" Marian asks. "Maybe we should invite Cullen here to hear what he has to say about that. By the way," she calls out to Isabela who returns with a bottle of whisky and two glasses in her hands, "if you want to get on the Link, I installed an access point over Cullen's connection but you have to physically plug yourself in."

"Like cavemen," Isabela groans. "Does the poor guy know that you're using his connection?"

"Of course not. He would throw such a fuss, go all chantry on us."

"Oi!" Garrett is about ready to freeze the whole room in ice. "Can we get back to this non-mages doing mage spells cause that's kind of like fusing lyrium into people to give them mage abilities and that's maybe _one_ step away from control magic? Hello?"

At last the room is blessedly silent and Garrett dares to look at Fenris. The elf frowns, but more out of interest than anger it seems. "You think these things are related?" Fenris asks quietly.

Garrett lets go of a long breath. "We know that the chantry wants to control every mage and we know that the Danarius Corporation loves to keep track of every mage and magic thing. What if they're working on this together? Enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of way? Give all people access to magic, but control and trace them at the same time."

"That's..." Anders says after a long silence, "that's the longest leap of logic I ever heard you make and it even makes sense."

"I can say," Fenris says with his deep voice that sends shivers up Garrett's spine, "that I'm a failed experiment because they couldn't control me. I was discarded. But there were many more experiments with lyrium and fusing it to the body. Some internal, on bone level. Some with substances taken like potions."

"Discarded?" Garrett asks. "What does that mean?"

"I didn't stay to find out." Fenris looks up to Garrett and he gets lost in those green eyes. "But I assume that they tried to poison me today to get rid of the evidence."

"If this is true," Marian says, stepping out of Anders' embrace, "then the public needs to know. We need proof that the Danarius Corporation works on making non-mages to mages and controlling them at the same time and that they're working with the chantry on that. Which is a wild guess for now, as compelling as it is."

"We have to get inside of the Danarius building."

Fenris jumps up, his marking glowing. "I won't go back there. This is not my fight."

Garrett wants to put his hand on Fenris' shoulder but hesitates to touch those glowing lines. "It's alright, you don't have to."

"But maybe..." Anders starts.

"No," Garrett says, aiming his finger at Anders. "Fenris won't go back there if he doesn't want to, end of debate."

"Okay, okay." Anders throws his hands up and turns his back to Garrett.

"Someone could go in and ask to be made into a mage," Marian says.

Carver raises a hand. "I could do that."

All the mages shake their heads. Merrill presses a kiss on his cheek. "You're a templar, vhenan."

"Yeah, we can all sense you from a mile away," Anders says.

"It would have to be someone who isn't a templar or a mage," Marian says and looks at Isabela.

"No," Isabela calls out, "stop it. I'm just here for the fun and the drinks, don't come at me with all this righteousness and freedom and all that bullshit."

"Babe." Marian just looks at Isabela.

"Fuck!" Isabela throws her long black hair back as she downs her drink and then fills her glass again. "Fuck, you're a fucking stupid bad influence. Fuck this. All this doing what's good and right... Fuck!" She empties the glass again and throws herself backwards on Merrill's bed. "Fucking great. Fine, I'm doing it." She raises her upper body up on her elbows and glares at Marian. "You fucking owe me for this."

"I know babe." Marian comes over to Isabela and kneels beside the bed, pressing a kiss to her lips. "You're the best."

"I know I am. For fucks sake."

"How long do you think we'll need to move?"

"Pull up our stakes and get our nugs in a row?" Isabela thinks for a moment. "About six weeks, better make it eight to have a new location secured."

"Eight weeks then." Marian stands up and looks around. "Let's use the time to gather information and you," she turns to Fenris, "I can't make you join us but we can offer you help, protection and work. Not much but probably better than being on your own." She smiles softly. "For now, let Garrett take care of you, he's like a mother hen, you'll be fit and healthy in no time."

Garrett knows that he blushes furiously and he fiddles with his mohawk to avoid looking at Fenris.

Fenris shuffles his feet and his hands clench on the armrest. "I don't want to impose."

"You don't," Garrett says. "Come on, at least let me make you something to eat and then you can rest some more and if you want to leave, you can leave. No problem."

For a minute that feels like an hour, Fenris doesn't say anything, just looks at Garrett as if he can look directly into the mess of his feelings. Garrett knows, if Fenris leaves now, he will never see him again and the thought cuts like a knife in his gut.

"I would be grateful for some food," Fenris finally says.

"Good!" Garrett calls out, entirely too happy to be subtle. He interlocks his arm with Fenris' and leads him out of Merrill's room towards the kitchen. "Do you like eggs? I can make you an omelette, I make great omelets."

"That would be nice, thank you."

"Just have a seat here and..."

Fenris sits down but holds Garrett's arm tight, pulling him closer. His lips almost touch Garrett's as he whispers, "Why are you helping me?"

Garrett doesn't dare to breathe. "Because I like you. I'm simple like that."

Fenris smiles at him. "Today, I didn't know where I could go and I came to you..."

Garrett has to take a breath or he would have fainted. "I'm glad you did."

Fenris lets go of his arm and leans back in the chair. "Thank you for helping me. One day, I will repay you."

"Don't worry about it." Garrett turns to the kitchen and begins to crack the eggs. As much as he wants to kiss Fenris senseless right now, he doesn't want him to think that that's all he wants. He's already way past that simple desire.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This makes about as much sense as any other action movie so let's just roll with it. XD


	4. Chapter 4

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* * *

 

"How do we stand?" Marian sits at the kitchen table, her nose over the rim of her coffee cup, inhaling the hot steam rising up from it. Garrett always wondered if she tries to get her first caffeine hit by breathing. 

Anders lies lengthwise on the couch, his long legs dangling over the side. Isabela sits on the floor next to him, inhaling a chocolate filled pancake, while Anders strokes over her hair with his eyes closed. 

"Mhmpf," Isabela says, putting the last piece of pancake in her mouth and licking chocolate off her fingers. "Fuck, Garrett, your pancakes are the best." 

Garrett turns the next pancake, thin and large like a crepe but with american fluffiness, his very own recipe. "I'm glad they are appreciated," he says with a nod to Isabela.

"Have you introduced Fenris to your pancake magic yet?" Marian asks. 

"Psst, be quiet," Hawke hisses. Fenris sleeps in his room on an air mattress, since he has nowhere else to go. Every night so far, Fenris stays up late and sneaks into Garrett's room after he has already gone to bed. Garrett always pretends to sleep when Fenris comes in and just hopes that the elf can't hear his rapidly beating heart. Nothing happens, despite Isabela's lewt comments, not because Garrett wouldn't want to. He waits for Fenris to make the first move.

"I always leave one pancake out on a plate for him, for when he gets up," Garrett says and slides a golden pancake on a plate. He ladles the next batch of batter into the pan and swirls it around.

"But by then it will be cold," Merrill says, wiping sleep from her eyes. She takes the fresh pancake and sprinkles sugar and cinnamon on top. 

Marian takes a gulp of coffee and sets the cup on the table with a clang. "Guys! Strategy meeting."

"Relax, sister," Garrett says as he prepares Marian's pancake with ham and cheese. "We'll get to the agenda."

Marian grumbles something about them being the worst revolutionaries but when Garrett slides her ham and cheese pancake in front of her, a smile spreads on her face. The neon sign on the wall flickers and crackles and Marian's smile drops again.

"I thought you fixed that?" she asks Garrett.

Garrett shrugs with one shoulder. "I did, it's the wiring here."

"Good that we're leaving soon." Isabela pulls Anders' hand from her head and kisses his palm. "I have an appointment at Danarius Towers in two days," she says and nibbles on Anders' fingertips. Turning to the rest of the group, she grins widely. "I got rid of the club too, you'll never guess who took it over."

"Anyone we know?" Garrett asks. He swirls fresh batter in the pan, adding red pepper and cheese with a dash of Tabasco for his very own 'burning breakfast'. Fenris' plain pancake already sits on a plate next to him.

"Oh yes."

"Who?" Marian asks. "We don't want to leave traces, you know."

"It'll be fine," Isabela says. "It's Cullen and Sebastian, they want to turn it into a classic rock bar."

"No way!"

"Sebastian said he always wanted to be a barman, listening to people's problems and giving them advice and Cullen has many ideas on how to make the place nice and cozy." Isabela laughs out. "You should have seen them, they were acting like they had adopted a new baby."

"Adorable," Marian says, her voice dripping with malice. "And do you think they will keep their mouths shut if templars or Danarius agents question them?"

"Yes, actually, I do," Isabela says, sitting up.

Anders sits up too and rolls his shoulders. "They both know at least sort of about us, Sebastian even went on that flash mop with us and hacked that billboard." 

"A flash mop is not quite on this level."

Anders picks at his half-eaten pancake, lining raisins up on one pick of the fork. "They haven't ratted us out yet and Cullen is not with the chantry anymore. And if Sebastian is _with_ him, if you know what I mean, he can't be too tight on the chantry line either."

Merrill picks sugar and cinnamon from her plate with a wet fingertip. "They both hate the Danarius corporation," she says.

They all stare at her.

"How do you know?" Marian asks.

"I had tea with them and we talked about things." 

"Tea," Garrett says, "with the chantry boys." He stares at her. "You, a mage?"

"They liked my tea," Merrill says with a shrug. 

"They never want to drink tea with me," Garrett growls quietly. He sits down to eat his own pancake when the door to his room opens. Fenris comes out, hovering at the door. 

"Come here, have a seat," Garrett says, patting the chair next to him. "Your pancake is still warm."

"Thank you," Fenris says, his voice rough from sleep, which does things to Garrett's insides that he doesn't want to focus on. "I'm gonna brush my teeth first."

He disappears in the bathroom. 

Garrett lifts the fork to his mouth, his eyes on the bathroom door, only to realize that he didn't put a piece of pancake on the fork. His friends snicker. 

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbles, focussing on his pancake now to finally eat something himself. 

"What's your appointment about?" Anders asks Isabela. 

"They call it a tattoo, but they were pretty vague about it." 

"It can't be as extensive as Fenris' tattoos, very few people would agree to that kind of implantation," Marian says. 

"I agree," Fenris says as he comes back out of the bathroom. "I certainly didn't ask for it." His hair is loose and sways with every move. 

Garrett quickly turns his gaze away and stuffs his mouth with pancake. His eyes water from the Tabasco but at least he's not staring like a love sick fool anymore.

"Maybe they've optimized the process to implant lyrium more densely in the tattoos," Marian says, "so that they need less real estate on the skin."

"In case there's any doubt," Isabela chimes up, "I don't actually want that kind of tattoo, okay? So what's the plan?"

Marian nods. "I know, babe, don't worry." She pours herself more coffee from the thermos and drinks half the cup before she continues. "Our goal is to get information. We need access on the inside. That's why you'll go in with Anders and me, we're your moral support or something like that. Merrill will be somewhere outside, giving us a direct linkup to the Dalish Net. We'll need a distraction, so that the building will get evacuated, then Anders and I will hack the security and download whatever we can get our hands on."

"How?"

All look at Fenris, who, ever since his first introduction to the group, has never said anything in these meetings. 

"How will you hack the security?" Fenris asks.

"We're pretty good at this, you know," Anders says, ignoring Fenris' scowl.

"The trick is that we combine physics, magic, and computer science into whizzhackery," Garrett says. That word is his own invention and he's quite proud of it, despite the eye-rolls from his friends. "I'm setting access-points from the outside and spread out magic blockers. Internal security will be blind and flooded with false data. Security systems are usually separate from magic systems and since they're meant to function in every eventuality, they still have plain copper wires from the basement going to the doors. I rewire them and give Anders and Marian access to the lower levels."

"How will you get into the basement?" Fenris asks, not reacting to Garrett's proud smile.

He picks an access card from a bowl on the table, the Danarius logo shining in bright green on it. "Already got a card. Worked with maintenance there last week."

"What if the card won't be valid anymore?"

"Not likely, they have lots of outsource companies working there. And if there's a problem, I'll rewrite the chip, zap it with magic or something." Garrett puffs his chest out a bit, he may be the muscle of the group but that doesn't mean that he can't do some basic hacking.

"I'll take care of the distraction," Anders says.

"How?"

"You'll see."

Marian's eyes narrow. "I don't like it when you're keeping secrets, the last secret got you that templar wristband."

Anders holds up his arm and stares at the blue glowing wristband with disdain. "Tomorrow that stupid thing gets taken off, finally." 

The gravelly voice of Fenris makes them all turn around. "Why did you get it?"

"The monitor band?" Anders snorts. "What do you think?"

Fenris sneers, the white markings pulsing in blinding light. "Bloodmagic!"

"Yes," Anders says calmly. "Bloodmagic doesn't mean ritualic sacrifice or some such shit. As you should know especially, bloodmagic is sometimes necessary in a medical environment and everybody knows that. But if you have a new, overeager resident on your ward, who wants to suck up to the head physician..."

The glow of Fenris' markings dies down and he visibly relaxes. "You work in a hospital?"

"Yep."

Garrett collects the plates from his friends and puts them into the sink, where Marian is elbow deep in soapy water to wash them. 

"If Anders spent any time on his thesis," Garrett says, "he'd be a doctor by now."

Anders shakes his head. "That's not quite how that works."

"Still, you could have a career — "

"I'm fine, alright?" Anders stands up, kicking the glass table with his shin and stomps off to his room.

Fenris raises an eyebrow at Garrett, a question clear on his face.

"He lost a friend," Garrett says quietly. "Karl was... the templars did something to his mind, we don't know what. Anders tried to help him but he was — "

"-- gone, like an empty shell," Marian continues. "As if his mind had been erased. In one lucid moment, he took a scalpel from Anders' set and killed himself."

"It wasn't his fault," Garrett says, "the committee also cleared him of all charges but still, Karl is dead and Anders feels that it's his fault. Since then, he works himself to the bones at the hospital."

"I see," Fenris says. "I should not have judged him like that."

"He's actually really careful with bloodmagic," Marian says, drying her hands on a dishtowel. She throws a look towards Merrill. "Unlike other people..." 

Merrill smiles at Marian. As always, whatever criticism Marian intended, it just slides off Merrill's sunny disposition. "I don't understand why you city people get all nervous with bloodmagic, as if it isn't the same stuff the chantry does."

Garrett looks at Fenris. "She means the phylacteries that they keep track of Circle mages."

"I don't know enough about these things." Fenris eats the last piece of pancake and wipes his mouth on a napkin. Garret can't help but stare at his lips. When Fenris looks up, he knows he's been caught staring and his cheeks heat up. 

"No Circle mage friends?"

"I don't know." Fenris looks down on his empty plate, as if he expects to find answers there. "I don't remember."

Garrett sits down next to Fenris and drapes his arm over the table. "You don't remember what?"

"Anything. I don't remember anything from my life before the laboratory."

"Fucking void," Isabela spits out.

Garrett can only stare. "Your family?"

"I don't know if I have one."

"That's so sad," Merrill says. She unfolds from the couch and hurries over to Fenris' chair, throwing her arms around him from behind.

Fenris stiffens, light glimmering along his tattoos and he stares at Garrett with wide eyes. Garrett leans forward and gently pulls on Merrill's arm. "Sweety, I think Fenris isn't comfortable."

"Oh, sorry," Merrill quickly steps back, holding her arms up. "Sorry, I always do that, I just... ehm..." She wrings her hands and walks backwards towards her room.

Fenris turns to her. "Please, I do not wish to be rude."

Merrill stops and shrugs. "It's quite alright, you know I do bloodmagic, lots of people don't like that." She shrugs again and goes into her room.

"I'm being ungrateful," Fenris says. "I didn't mean to disrupt your breakfast."

"Don't worry about it," Garrett says, picking up Fenris' plate to carry it over to the sink. "This isn't much different than any other day."

Marian nods and downs the rest of her coffee. "We're all assholes here."

"Speak for yourself, sister."

Marian grins at him and leans over to Fenris. "He's being nice because you're here. Usually he calls me ice-bitch."

"Don't you have to be somewhere?" Garrus cleans the plate with much more force than necessary to hide his blush.

"I'm off too." Isabela stretches her legs up to close the zipper on her boots and saunters to the door. She points her finger at Garrett. "Two days, don't forget that."

"Wait, babe," Marian calls after her, throwing a cape over as she slips into her shoes. At the door, she also turns to Garrett. "We have to pack this place up, so get your hoard sorted."

"Yeah, yeah," Garrett grumbles. 

"What hoard?" Fenris asks.

"My dragon figurines and all that stuff in my room."

The plate he scrubs has never been cleaner and might be missing the upper layer of glazing by now. Fenris has been sleeping in his room for weeks now but this is the first time that he came out to eat breakfast with them and Garrett doesn't know what to do with himself. If he had his way, he would kneel down in front of this man and spend the rest of the day staring at him.

"You look different today." 

Fenris' deep voice slides like velvet down his neck, causing a full body shudder that Garrett can hardly hide. The plate snaps in half in his hands and he drops it into the sink with a sigh. "What do you mean?"

"Your hair."

Garrett dries his hands and wipes over his hair, still soft and flat against his head. "I haven't mohawked it yet."

Fenris watches him and there is no escaping those green eyes. They pull Garrett forward like magnetism and only the chair in his way stops him from staggering right into Fenris' lap. He falls onto the chair with spread legs, the backrest like a wall between them, holding him back from those breathtaking lips. 

Two white lines are tattooed on his chin, curving down Fenris' throat, spreading into a pattern like veins in a leaf. They don't glow but they are bright against his brown skin. His lips open with a breath and Garrett yearns to feel them again, to kiss him and then kiss down his throat, following those lines, down, down...

"Garrett."

The velvety sound carrying his name registers somewhere in the haze of his mind and he blinks. "Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

Garrett's sees his thumb stroking over Fenris' chin, as if someone else is guiding his muscles because his brain is still stuck on how soft those lips look. He hastily draws his hand away and stares at his thumb until he realizes how stupid that looks. It's not like his thumb will answer questions.

"Sorry, I... I don't know."

Fenris wipes the hair from his forehead, revealing three white dots in a triangle pattern. Garrett's fingers twitch.

"Can I?" he asks, gesturing towards Fenris' forehead. 

Fenris looks at him, green eyes studying him like a scientist studies a new specimen. Garrett has already given up hope when he finally says, "Yes."

Garrett leans forward, gently stroking over the dots. The skin feels a bit rougher there, each dot a scar pattern. And it tingles against his fingers, his magic reacting. He draws a triangle with his fingertip, holding still on each dot. His magic hums on each dot, as if a spark wants to jump over as soon as he lifts his finger. 

Fenris grabs his other arm, pulling him forward. He stares at Garrett's hand and then up to where Garrett's fingers hover on his forehead, going cross eyed as he looks up. 

Garrett tries to hold back but he can't help but giggle. He almost swallows his tongue when Fenris glares at him. "You," Garrett slowly pulls his hand from Fenris' forehead, "you were going cross eyed, you know, and... well..." 

He grins again because that's what he does, that's who he is. He makes stupid jokes and grins at things that he should take seriously and without fail, always destroys any sweet moment that could mean something. With a grunt he turns away to get up but Fenris' iron grip holds him. 

"Sorry, I'm..."

A sound, so warm and sweet that he doesn't believe his ears at first, fills the air between them. Fenris giggles. His cheeks are red and he giggles. 

Affection hits Garrett like an amboss in a cartoon. Fenris blushes and smiles at him and Garrett is about ready to throw himself off a cliff to deal with all these emotions washing over him. 

Fenris takes Garrett's hand and leans his cheek against his palm. "Your magic feels good."

"Yes, sure." Garrett swallows hard. "It's just the magic, yes, of course." His feelings screech to a halt. Stupid Garrett, in over his head again.

"No," Fenris says and he is suddenly so much closer, his hand in Garrett's hair. "It's not just the magic."

His lips are as soft as he remembers. He kisses Garrett slowly at first and then with burning passion, pulling him closer so that the chair creaks between them. Fenris' markings light up in soft blue and Garrett feels his magic respond, humming in his frequency. It draws him towards him, a connection down to his very being and igniting his desire to be with him, to hold him, care for him, to give his life to him.

With a jolt the connection rips, Fenris pulls back, sounding like a wounded animal as he jumps up and staggers backwards until he hits the wall. "No, I'm sorry, I can't."

Garrett hurries over to him, the chairs clattering behind him but he halts when he sees Fenris stare at him. There's fear in his eyes and Garrett's blood turns cold.

"I'm sorry." Garrett holds his hands up and takes a step back. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry." He feels Fenris fear like a lance of ice piercing him. 

"It's not you. You didn't do anything wrong." Fenris turns his face away. The stupid neon sign on the wall colors his hair blue. "I'm not ready."

Garrett's knees go soft and he sinks to the floor, looking up to Fenris. "I would never hurt you."

"I believe you."

"I'm not gonna make you do anything — "

"I know!" Fenris yells, his eyes glowing blue in wild lyrium fire. 

Garrett stares up to him, fighting against his instinct to pull Fenris into a hug. 

Slowly, Fenris slides down the wall onto his knees. He pulls Garrett forward and presses his forehead against Garrett's. Again, Garrett's magic begins to hum in that familiar frequency and Fenris lets out a long, slow breath.

"I thought I was ready," Fenris says quietly. "I know you're not sleeping when I come into your room at night and every night I think that I could just crawl into your bed but I can't." 

"Nothing will happen that you don't want."

"I know." Fenris presses their heads together, it's almost painful. "I thought... I thought I had left this behind, that I could start anew, with you. But then... the memories..." He lets go of Garrett's neck and leans back.

Garrett sits frozen, not daring to move. 

"I'm sorry," Fenris says. 

Garrett lets out a breath before he chokes on it. "We are friends, and if that's all we can be, it will be enough."

Fenris stares at him, wide eyed. "Really?"

Garrett nods, ignoring the pinch of hopeless pain in his chest. He will be content with whatever Fenris is willing to give him. 

Fenris stands up slowly, his hair falling into his face. "When you go into the Danarius building," he says and his voice is hard like steel, "I'm coming with you."

"But you never wanted to set foot in there again."

Fenris looks over his shoulder to where Garrett is still sitting on the floor. His eyes are hard and angry. "There's something I have to do. Something I have to finish."

"Alright, you're in." 

"Thank you." Fenris pulls on shoes and walks to the door. He looks back to Garrett. "Thank you for being my friend." 

"Sure." Nobody has ever thanked Garrett for being a half-decent person so he isn't sure what one says to that.

The door falls closed behind Fenris and Garrett collapses backwards on the floor. "Maker's fuck!" he calls out to the air. "What in the fucking frozen void?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a plot in here somewhere, I swear. 
> 
> Let me know what you think.


	5. Chapter 5

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amazing art by [xiz0r](https://xiz0r.tumblr.com/post/188075785974/punk-hawke-to-celebrate-the-first-day-of-inktober)

* * *

 

"You need anything?" Garrett brushes his hair over to one side, watching Fenris through the mirror. He has to be inconspicuous today, so no mohawk, just a normal ponytail for him. His hair falls in front of his face as he searches for the hair tie. When he looks up, he catches Fernis staring at him and the elf quickly looks away. But his neck turns red and Garrett smiles. At least he's not the only one who secretly stares at the other like a smitten kitten.

"I don't have a jacket." 

"Everything I have is probably way too large. Anders has already cleaned out his stuff." Garrett looks around the bare apartment, empty except for a few pieces of furniture. "Merrill might have something your size."

"I can manage." Fenris stuffs his hands in the pockets of his black jeans. His shirt has long sleeves but with decorative cut outs, displaying the white lines of his lyrium tattoos. Beautiful, breathtakingly so, but not exactly warm.

Garrett rummages through his bag and fishes out a large blue and green shawl. "Here, wrap this around you."

Fenris catches the shawl and spreads it out between his hands with a confused look. 

"Don't try to find the up or down on it. Merrill knitted that, I think it was meant to become a triangle at some point but she lost count of the loopdeloops. Just throw it over and get comfortable."

"Alright." With an amused smile, Fenris throws the shawl over his shoulders and wraps it several times around his neck. His neck disappears in the pile of wool, and there's still enough to cover his arms.

"You got everything?"

Fenris looks down to his hands. "I had nothing when I came here."

"Right." Garrett takes one last look around and picks up his bag. "I guess, this is it for this place. No, wait." He dashes back into the corner with the stove and grabs his herbs and spices from the shelf. "I need those and I'm not leaving my good pan either."

He stuffs it all in his bag and carries it out to the stairs. Fenris follows him and walks down the stairs but Garrett hesitates. "I liked this place." He sighs and pulls the door closed.

Down in the bar, the cleaning lights are on and someone lays new floortiles in the dancing area. Sebastian is behind the bar, organizing bottles and wiping glasses. "Hello Garrett," he calls over, "and Fenris, good to see you."

Fenris always looks uncomfortable when people acknowledge his existence but he nods towards Sebastian. "Hello, it's good to see you too."

"New tiles, huh?" Garrett says.

"Yes, Cullen wants people to dance and with the old floor..."

"Hey, I danced here just fine." Garrett sits down at the bar and puts his set of keys to the apartment on the bar.

Sebastian smiles. "It seems Cullen and you have different standards there." 

"Probably." 

"Do you want to store your bag here for today for... well..." Sebastian doesn't finish the sentence but it's clear that he knows that they're planning something. He probably noticed the heightened data load on Cullen's Link connection too.

"That's probably not a good idea," Garrett says, avoiding Sebastian's eyes. It feels kind of unreal to just talk about this thing they're planning to do, which can certainly get them arrested or worse. "So here's the key, the furniture is still there but everything else should be gone."

"Be careful today." From the serious look he gives them, Sebastian seems to know more than he let on at first. 

"Yes, we will be." Garrett hefts his bag over his shoulder and looks at Fenris. The elf seems to be lost in thought, staring at the brick wall on the other side of the room. Garrett shudders, that's where he saw and kissed Fenris for the first time. 

"Hey," he says quietly, "we should go."

Fenris turns to him, his eyes wide. "Garrett, I..."

"Yes?"

Instead of saying what is bothering him, Fenris steps forward and crashes his lips against Garrett's.

It feels like hours before Garrett's brain catches up with him. All the guards he's built up over the last few weeks shatter into pieces and he floats. 

Fenris kisses him like a starving man, hungry and desperate and part of Garrett worries if this is a kiss-goodbye. But then his higher brain functions shut off and all he can do is feel, drinking in the sensations on his lips, pulling Fenris closer, and forcing his knees to keep him upright. His magic hums and Fenris' tattoos answer in a glow but this time, he doesn't turn away.

"Garrett," Fenris moans against his lips, ending the kiss but not moving away. "There's something I have to tell you."

Only some unarticulated sound makes it out of his mouth as Garrett tries to get awareness of his body back. "Alright... I... let's go outside." He takes a step back, his fingers lingering and sliding off Fenris' neck. 

He walks to the door on shaky legs, squinting against the light outside. The street is not too busy but the glass tube of the magictrack rumbles above them with the silhouettes of many people travelling to other parts of Kirkwall. Fenris leads the way, finding an alleyway to hide in. 

Fenris' eyes flitter around, taking in their surroundings like a chased fennec. Garrett's heart aches for him, what happened to him to make him this afraid?

"Danarius," Fenris whispers as if he's afraid someone could hear him. 

"Danarius corporation, yes, what of it?"

Fenris violently shakes his head, his hair, by now almost all white, flying in his eyes. "No, not the corporation, Magister Danarius, I know him."

"Know him?" Garrett aks carefully.

"Yes, personally."

Garrett braces himself. "How personally?"

"Very."

Garrett's heart drops like a stone. "So, he's like your ex...?"

Fenris' head whips up and he glares at Garrett. "No, not like that. Those are not good memories."

"I'm sorry."

Fenris' shoulders drop and he steps forward and leans against Garrett's chest. Garrett holds his breath and carefully wraps his arms around Fenris' slim form. 

He holds him, not daring to move, until Fenris sighs and steps out of his embrace.

He looks up to Garrett through the hair fallen into his face. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

"Does this change anything, do you not want to come with us today?"

"No, I have to," Fenris says. 

"You have to confront him?"

Fenris looks up to him in surprise. "Yes, I guess that's it. I have to confront him to put it behind me."

"Hey, I totally get that," Garrett says. 

"Oi, darlings!" Isabela appears in front of them, dressed in an unusually conservative but smart business dress with a tight skirt.

"Wow, Bela," Garreett says, looking her over, "if you sold templar-insurance, I'd buy every single one from you."

Isabela answers with some quip Garrett doesn't hear because his ears are filled with the most wondrous sound of Fenris giggling at his joke. His head whips around to see Fenris smiling, a rosy blush spreading on his cheeks. If Garrett weren't already head over heels about this man, this would be the moment he would fall in love. As it is, he's long past that point.

"Any last thoughts?" Marian looks at them with one eyebrow raised. She wears an equally smart business suit, cut to her figure and accentuating her strong shoulders and she even wears a tie.

"You look like hot shit, babe," Isabela says and snakes her arm around Marian's back. "Where's our scruffy doc?"

Marian sighs. "Something about his distraction, he's still not telling me what exactly he'll do but he said we should move five minutes after hearing the fire alarm. So now we just wait for — ah, there they are." 

Merrill and Carver come around the corner, each of them carrying a large bag. Carver looks over his shoulder as if he expects to get shot any minute. 

"Hey guys!" Merrill gives them a bright smile, seemingly quite unconcerned with doing something very criminal soon. Carver on the other hand is fidgeting as if he has ants in his pants.

"Are you wearing a bulletproof vest?" Marian asks Carver.

"You never know what can happen." Carver crosses his arms over his chest. The vest makes him look even larger and Garrett wishes he had one too.

"Fenris!" Merrill calls out, smiling at him as if he not snarls at her like a rabid cat. "I found a coat for you." She pulls a long black coat from her bag and hands it to him. 

Fenris forgets to snarl and stares dumbfounded at the heavy fabric in his hand. "Why are you giving me a coat?"

"For one it is cold," Merrill says, "and if you're going inside the building, your markings should be hidden, don't you think?"

Fenris slides his arms into the coat. It hangs down heavy and thick, almost touching the floor, swinging slowly when he moves. It has a hood that Fenris pulls over the pile of shawl and deep into his face. 

"There, if you don't light up, nobody should recognize you." Merrill sorts through the bag and pulls out a small satellite dish before pulling the zipper closed.

"Thank you," Fenris says. 

Merrill smiles at him. "No problem." She turns to Marian. "Should I set up here?"

Marian looks critically up and down the alley. The buildings have no windows on this side but except for a large trashcan, there isn't much cover to hide behind.

"Are you sure this is safe?"

Merrill smiles at their little brother. "Carver is gonna protect me." 

"Oh, I know he will." Marian gives Carver the kind of glare that has shrunk lesser men but Carver holds her gaze defiantly. When she turns back to Merrill, an almost smile threatens to make the corners of her mouth draw up. "Can you get a connection here? And is it close enough to the Danarius Tower?"

Merrill traces the intricate lines on her arm until writing glows on them, rapidly scrolling over the neural tattoos. "Yes, this place works well. Carver is going to help set up the link to the Dalish Net."

"You're not going to get in trouble for that, Kitten?" Isabela asks.

"Naw, the Keeper was sceptical at first but Tamlen is in System Control and he vouched for me. He said he's been waiting for a long time for something like this." 

Marian's eyes narrow. "What does he mean by that?" 

Merrill spreads out the legs of the satellite dish and watches the numbers on her arm as she adjusts the position. "You know how the human Link system and the qunari Par Vollen have established connections? There are plans for the Dalish Net to join that collaboration."

"The Danarius Corporation already controls the Link, that would mean we'd have no free network anymore," Marian says with a frown.

Merrill nods without looking up from the interface on her arm. "Tamlen and I have been working on a mirror network for a while, something that can't be attacked by any of the other networks. Our data will be the first test for it, to keep a copy secure, in case Danarius tries anything." She clicks her tongue and the glowing dalish symbols on her tattoos disappear. 

Isabela crosses her arms and grins appreciative. "Kitten, you keep surprising me."

"Thank you," Merrill says with a wide smile, "you keep surprising me too!"

Garrett can't help but laugh.

Merrill looks at him confused. "What, did I say anything wrong?"

"No," Carver says, scowling at him, "you didn't say anything wrong, they're all just assholes."

"Can't deny that," Isabela says with a shrug. 

"Ok, let's go," Marian says. "Garrett and Fenris, take your position in the cafe and wait for the fire alarm, Isabela and I will go wait in the Danarius tower for Anders."

Garrett nods and looks at Fenris. He has drawn the hood deep into his face and seems to be elsewhere with his thoughts. When he puts his hand on his arms, he flinches as if Garrett hit him and looks at him with wild eyes.

Garrett quickly pulls his hand away. "Hey, are you alright?" 

"Yes," Fenris says after a short hesitation, "we should move on."

* * *

"Can I get you anything else?" 

Garrett jumps in his seat and shakes his head at the waitress. "No, thanks, we'll just pay alright?"

"Sure thing, sweety." The waitress holds out the Link reader but Garrett shakes his head and peels out coins and bills from his pocket. He ignores her raised eyebrows, he's aware that hardly anyone pays cash nowadays but he can't have his Link details on the net, not today. 

When he looks out of the window, the green Danarius logo glows back at him, right next to the golden sun of the chantry. The temple and the corporate tower almost lean against each other, if either of the buildings were the leaning kind. As it is, both buildings are massive and sturdy, the Danarius building a pretentious nightmare of steel and glass and the chantry temple pretending to be a cozy stone building that just happens to be just as massive as the business tower next to it.

Garrett looks over to Fenris sitting next to him. He seems to have shrunk in on himself, hiding in the heavy coat. A glass of water sits untouched in front of him. 

"Fenris," Garrett says quietly.

The elf slowly raises his head, as if waking from a dream. A nightmare probably, judging by the haunted look in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm not very entertaining."

"That's quite alright, you don't have to entertain me." Garrett puts his hand on Fenris' arm, watching his face for any negative reaction. "Are you okay? Do you still want to do this?"

"Yes, I have to."

"You don't... I mean, you don't have to reopen old wounds, you know?"

Fenris shakes his head, holding Garrett's gaze. "I think, this wound has never been closed."

"Ok, just, if you feel uncomfortable, you can get out, alright? Nobody will hold it against you. I'm on your side, no matter what you do."

"That is," Fenris says after a pause, "that is more than I ever hoped for."

Garrett turns away to hide his blush. "Pff, please, not like it counts much. You got the shitty Hawke I'm afraid."

A smile plays on Fenris' lips. "I doubt that."

"No it's true! If you want a mage, my sister is the best you can get, truly terrifying in her power and control. Carver doesn't have magic but he can punch a man through a wall if he wants to. Me? I can cool down a beer and zap electronics but Marian always yells at me for not using all of my power." He shrugs. "I don't know, I don't think I have more. I have my tools instead."

He pulls out his tool chain and lets it jingle. Fenris looks at the various pliers and picks with a frown and looks up to him. 

"I feel your magic whenever you're near," he says. "You are powerful but you're hiding it."

"Easy to hide if there's not much there to begin with," Garrett says and picks up his toolbox. His hair falls into his face and he sets down the box to tie it back in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. 

Fenris gets up and looks like he wants to say something but the blaring of the fire alarm on the other side of the road has them both stare out of the window. People are running out of the Chantry and come towards the cafe to seek shelter.

"That's our cue," Garrett says under his breath. "Let's get out before people block the door."

Garrett holds his toolbox in front of him, yelling "Excuse me, coming through!" as he stomps towards the door. Fenris falls behind but then grabs Garrett's hand and lets himself get pulled through the crowd and outside. 

Once outside, they hurry down the sidewalk towards the marquee of a flower shop, right on the other side of the Danarius Tower. Garrett stops, watching the doors of the buildings. No more people are coming out of the Chantry but the fire alarm didn't cause any evacuation from the Danarius Tower.

"If that was Anders' distraction, it didn't work," Garrett says, turning to Fenris.

The elf stares up to him and it takes Garrett several long seconds to realize that he's still holding Fenris' hand and that his magic flickers around them. 

Garrett stares down to their hands, interlaced with each other like a magical lock. "Oh, I— 

An explosion shakes the ground, a column of fire rising towards the sky over the Chantry. For a microsecond, it's completely silent and then with a deafening crash, the whole building falls in on itself in a mushroom cloud of dust and debris.

Garrett stares open mouthed. "Holy shit. Anders blew up the fucking Chantry."


End file.
